Kasman’s other recent wins include the National Federation of Music Clubs Student/Collegiate Auditions, LaGrange Symphony Young Artist Concerto Competition, and AMTA State College Concerto and Solo Performance auditions.

The competition is for pianists ages 15-25 who reside in the United States. Artists initially submitted DVDs of their work. Kasman was selected as one of only three finalists, along with Tianpeng Yu of Los Angeles and Priscila Navarro of Florida. The three finalists were awarded $10,000 in prizes.

Kasman’s selection as a finalist in this nationwide competition was a great honor and achievement in and of itself, says her father and teacher, UAB Professor of Piano Yakov Kasman, DMA. The competition at High Point University was held June 4-6.

In May, Kasman was named a winner in the National Federation of Music Clubs Student/Collegiate Auditions. Kasman won in the piano classification. After winning this competition at the state level in February, she submitted her recording to the national-level auditions. The win came with a $3,000 cash award from NFMC; she also will be featured in the National NFMC magazine.

On Feb. 7, Kasman won the LaGrange Symphony Young Artist Concerto Competition and performed as a soloist with the LaGrange Symphony. On March 13, she won the Alabama Music Teachers Association State College Concerto Auditions. On April 4, she won the lower division and overall at AMTA State College Solo Performance Auditions.

Kasman performed a solo recital in Las Vegas on May 1.

This summer, Kasman will attend the International Keyboard Institute and Festival in New York City. She was automatically accepted into this highly competitive event as a Piano Arts North American Competition scholarship winner.

The computer brains inside autonomous vehicles will be fast enough to make life-or-death decisions. But should they? A member of UAB’s national championship-winning Bioethics Bowl team — and the team’s coach, a renowned bioethicist — weigh in on a thorny problem of the dawning robot age.

Imagine you are in charge of the switch on a trolley track.

The express is due any minute; but as you glance down the line you see a school bus, filled with children, stalled at the level crossing. No problem; that’s why you have this switch. But on the alternate track there’s more trouble: Your child, who has come to work with you, has fallen down on the rails and can’t get up. That switch can save your child or a bus-full of others, but not both. What do you do?

This ethical puzzler is commonly known as the Trolley Problem. It’s a standard topic in philosophy and ethics classes, because your answer says a lot about how you view the world. But in a very 21st century take, several writers (here and here, for example) have adapted the scenario to a modern obsession: autonomous vehicles. Google’s self-driving cars have already driven 1.7 million miles on American roads, and have never been the cause of an accident during that time, the company says. Volvo says it will have a self-driving model on Swedish highways by 2017. Elon Musk says the technology is so close that he can have current-model Teslas ready to take the wheel on “major roads” by this summer.

Who watches the watchers?

The technology may have arrived, but are we ready?

Google’s cars can already handle real-world hazards, such as cars’ suddenly swerving in front of them. But in some situations, a crash is unavoidable. (In fact, Google’s cars have been in dozens of minor accidents, all of which the company blames on human drivers.) How will a Google car, or an ultra-safe Volvo, be programmed to handle a no-win situation — a blown tire, perhaps — where it must choose between swerving into oncoming traffic or steering directly into a retaining wall? The computers will certainly be fast enough to make a reasoned judgment within milliseconds. They would have time to scan the cars ahead and identify the one most likely to survive a collision, for example, or the one with the most other humans inside. But should they be programmed to make the decision that is best for their owners? Or the choice that does the least harm — even if that means choosing to slam into a retaining wall to avoid hitting an oncoming school bus? Who will make that call, and how will they decide?

“Ultimately, this problem devolves into a choice between utilitarianism and deontology,” said UAB alumnus Ameen Barghi. Barghi, who graduated in May and is headed to Oxford University this fall as UAB’s third Rhodes Scholar, is no stranger to moral dilemmas. He was a senior leader on UAB’s Bioethics Bowl team, which won the 2015 national championship. Their winning debates included such topics as the use of clinical trials for Ebola virus, and the ethics of a hypothetical drug that could make people fall in love with each other. In last year’s Ethics Bowl competition, the team argued another provocative question related to autonomous vehicles: If they turn out to be far safer than regular cars, would the government be justified in banning human driving completely? (Their answer, in a nutshell: yes.)

Death in the driver’s seat

So should your self-driving car be programmed to kill you in order to save others? There are two philosophical approaches to this type of question, Barghi says. “Utilitarianism tells us that we should always do what will produce the greatest happiness for the greatest number of people,” he explained. In other words, if it comes down to a choice between sending you into a concrete wall or swerving into the path of an oncoming bus, your car should be programmed to do the former.

Deontology, on the other hand, argues that “some values are simply categorically always true,” Barghi continued. “For example, murder is always wrong, and we should never do it.” Going back to the trolley problem, “even if shifting the trolley will save five lives, we shouldn’t do it because we would be actively killing one,” Barghi said. And, despite the odds, a self-driving car shouldn’t be programmed to choose to sacrifice its driver to keep others out of harm’s way.

Every variation of the trolley problem — and there are many: What if the one person is your child? Your only child? What if the five people are murderers? — simply “asks the user to pick whether he has chosen to stick with deontology or utilitarianism,” Barghi continued. If the answer is utilitarianism, then there is another decision to be made, Barghi adds: rule or act utilitarianism.

“Rule utilitarianism says that we must always pick the most utilitarian action regardless of the circumstances — so this would make the choice easy for each version of the trolley problem,” Barghi said: Count up the individuals involved and go with the option that benefits the majority.

But act utilitarianism, he continued, “says that we must consider each individual act as a separate subset action.” That means that there are no hard-and-fast rules; each situation is a special case. So how can a computer be programmed to handle them all?

“A computer cannot be programmed to handle them all,” said Gregory Pence, Ph.D., chair of the UAB College of Arts and SciencesDepartment of Philosophy. “We know this by considering the history of ethics. Casuistry, or applied Christian ethics based on St. Thomas, tried to give an answer in advance for every problem in medicine. It failed miserably, both because many cases have unique circumstances and because medicine constantly changes.”

Preparing for the worst

The members of UAB’s Ethics and Bioethics teams spend a great deal of time wrestling with these types of questions, which combine philosophy and futurism. Both teams are led by Pence, a well-known medical ethicist who has trained UAB medical students for decades.

To arrive at their conclusions, the UAB team engages in passionate debate, says Barghi. “Along with Dr. Pence’s input, we constantly argue positions, and everyone on the team at some point plays devil’s advocate for the case,” he said. “We try to hammer out as many potential positions and rebuttals to our case before the tournament as we can so as to provide the most comprehensive understanding of the topic. Sometimes, we will totally change our position a couple of days before the tournament because of a certain piece of input that was previously not considered.”

That happened this year when the team was prepping a case on physician addiction and medical licensure. “Our original position was to ensure the safety of our patients as the highest priority and try to remove these physicians from the workforce as soon as possible,” Barghi said. “However, after we met with Dr. Sandra Frazier” — who specializes in physicians’ health issues — “we quickly learned to treat addiction as a disease and totally changed the course of our case.”

Barghi, who plans to become a clinician-scientist, says that ethics competitions are helpful practice for future health care professionals. “Although physicians don’t get a month of preparation before every ethical decision they have to make, activities like the ethics bowl provide miniature simulations of real-world patient care and policy decision-making,” Barghi said. “Besides that, it also provides an avenue for previously shy individuals to become more articulate and confident in their arguments.”

Sessions for business executives will give participants hands-on innovation experience.

The University of Alabama at Birmingham’s Collat School of Business and School of Engineering are hosting an Innovation Boot Camp for local executives who are interested in learning a process for building and fostering innovation that can be applied to products, services and business design.

The Innovation Boot Camp consists of two-day intensive, experiential sessions aimed at giving participants hands-on practice with innovation techniques. The sessions take place at either the Collat School of Business or the McWane Science Center.

During each session, participants will be part of a small interdisciplinary team engaged in an innovation challenge from start to finish. As a result, they will leave the boot camp with a new mindset about how to break through barriers to innovation.

The Innovation Boot Camp experience will enhance each participant’s ability to drive innovation in his or her organization. The instructors will take a learn-by-doing approach to build creative confidence.

This program is the first of its kind in Birmingham, modeled after the enormously popular Stanford Design School’s Principles of Design Thinking. Total cost for the camp is $1450, and participants can select the session that is most convenient for them from the following dates and locations:

“With a degree in international studies and a media studies interdisciplinary minor, I hope to create educational programming about the cultures of Middle East here in the United States,” Hyde said. “The William Jefferson Clinton Scholarship will help me in this goal by filling the gaps in my cultural studies, providing me with a more nuanced understanding of the region.”

As a freshman, Hyde traveled to Oman to study Arabic after being awarded a Critical Languages Scholarship.

Here’s a look at the many fellowships, scholarships, honors and awards earned by the talented 2015 spring graduates at UAB.

Earning a college degree is one of the defining moments of accomplishment in life. For some among the University of Alabama at Birmingham’s graduating class this spring, that success was sweetened with the added honors of awards, fellowships and scholarships.

Bliss Chang, graduating with degrees in biochemistry and biology in theCollege of Arts and Sciences, was awarded a 2015 Fulbright scholarship to conduct research in Germany for a year. Chang, a member of the Honors College’s Science and Technology Honors Program, is the 17th UAB student to receive this honor since 1993. Chang also received a DAAD Graduate Scholarship and a Golden Key International Honors Society Undergraduate Scholarship.

Ophelia Johnson was named to the National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship Program. Johnson, graduating with a degree in biomedical engineering, was one of two UAB students, along with Chang, to receive Barry Goldwater Scholarship Awards for the 2014-2015 academic year.

Yoonhee Ryder, graduating with degrees in biology and anthropology in the College of Arts and Sciences, was a finalist for the Marshall and Rhodes scholarships. Ryder is one of UAB’s Outstanding Women for 2015, selected by the UAB Commission on the Status of Women. She has been awarded prestigious scholarships and educational opportunities, including the Clinton Scholarship to study in the Middle East and the U.S. State Department’s Critical Language Institute to further study Korean.

Sadhvi Batra is one of only 40 winners nationwide for the Humanity in Action Fellowship, which supports original research concerning intolerance and democratic values. Batra recently graduated from UAB with a degree in neuroscience and philosophy in the College of Arts and Sciences. She was a member of the Honors College’s Science and Technology Honors Programand is completing her master’s degree in the School of Public Health’s fifth-year fast-track program. Batra will graduate with a master’s degree in public health. The fellowship begins May 25 in Washington, D.C., where the winners will begin orientation with the Council on Foreign Relations and the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum.

Leah Berkebile, who will graduate with degrees in biology and an individually designed major in the College of Arts and Sciences and is an honors student, is a national finalist for the Fulbright Scholarship to Jordan, and is awaiting final word from the host country.

“This is an exciting time of year for the UAB community as we celebrate the hard work and many accomplishments of all our graduates,” UAB President Ray L. Watts said. “I want to recognize the commitment of our faculty and staff to our students’ academic success as we all join in congratulating each graduate and extending our very best wishes to them all.”

UAB honors students head to Dubai, Paris and Washington D.C. for national and international studies thanks to scholarships and fellowships.

UAB honors students head to Dubai, Paris and Washington D.C. for national and international studies thanks to scholarships and fellowships.As the summer months draw near, 46 University of Alabama at Birminghamhonors students are preparing for international travel, academic enrichment or to conduct research everywhere from Dubai, Germany and Paris to Washington, D.C., after landing national and international fellowships.

Fifty-one students were recognized at the third annual UAB Fellowships luncheon on April 8 for being named finalists or winners of national and international fellowships.

“We know that our students can compete against the best and brightest from other institutions throughout the country. Our goal is to make students aware of opportunities and provide them with faculty and staff guidance during the application process.”

“These students represent UAB extremely well. We’re proud of the many accomplishments they have made in their respective fields,” said UAB President Ray L. Watts, M.D. “As they complete their academic careers here and venture out into the world, they will be very well-prepared for global citizenship.”

“UAB continues to invest in student success through supporting fellowship applicants,” said Ashley Floyd, director of the UAB Fellowships office. “We know that our students can compete against the best and brightest from other institutions throughout the country. Our goal is to make students aware of opportunities and provide them with faculty and staff guidance during the application process.”

UAB students have secured such prestigious awards as the Rhodes, Fulbright and Goldwater scholarships. They are among a select group for these awards nationwide. These fellowships help students fund research, study away and pursue graduate education.

Senior Ameen Barghi is the third UAB student since 2000 to be selected as a Rhodes scholar, more than from any other university in the state during the same period of time. Barghi is only one of 32 students in the United States who will begin an all-expenses-paid graduate education at Oxford University in Oxford, England, in the fall. Bliss Chang, also a senior, became the 17th UAB student to be awarded the Fulbright Scholarship since 1993. Chang will spend one year in Germany conducting research.

The university has had two or more winners of the UNCF/Merck Science Initiative scholarship every year for the last five years; only 15 are selected annually.

UAB students have also been among the winners for other awards, such as the William Jefferson Clinton Scholarship to study at American University in Dubai, Charles B. Rangel Scholarship to study international affairs in Washington, D.C., and the Humanity in Action Fellowship to explore national histories of discrimination and resistance in Europe.

“We have a tremendously supportive faculty, outstanding research opportunities and a real commitment on the part of the university to civic engagement, service learning, international education and global learning,” said Shannon Blanton, dean of the UAB Honors College. “The success of these honors students falls directly in line with UAB’s mission. We are proud and excited for all of these students.”

A complete list of honors scholarship and fellowships winners is available online.

Seniors Ameen Barghi, Brynna Paulukaitis and Kevin Shrestha and freshmen Eric Kim and Melanie Nichols – all honors students – beat out teams from universities including Dartmouth, UCLA, Georgetown, Rutgers and Samford for the title.

Each year, undergraduate teams from around the country compete in the Bioethics Bowl, debating some of the most pressing bioethical issues of the day. During competition, teams discuss and debate their views on a series of case studies.

“These students had the motivation to excel because they will use bioethics as they begin medical school,” said Gregory Pence, Ph.D., team coach and chair of UAB College of Arts and SciencesDepartment of Philosophy. “They know that they will be facing situations similar to those they are asked to debate in competition. This bright group of students won because they’ve mastered bioethics at UAB and received great advice from other UAB faculty.”

UAB cemented its win with what Pence calls a passionate and articulate attack by Paulukaitis and Nichols regarding a Tallahassee judge’s 1996 decision to force a pregnant mother to undergo a Caesarean operation to protect her unborn child.

“Our success was a result of tons of hard work, dedication, guidance from Dr. Pence and, most of all, team camaraderie,” said Barghi, team captain. “We faced some tough competition and close rounds, but ultimately the time various UAB faculty experts donated to our preparation put us ahead.”

The Bioethics Bowl Championship is held in conjunction with the National Undergraduate Bioethics Conference. The UAB ethics bowl team is sponsored by the Department of Philosophy.

The UAB ethics bowl team won its last national championship while competing at Duke University in 2011.

“This is a tremendous accomplishment that exemplifies the world-class opportunities UAB offers to our undergraduate students,” said Provost Linda Lucas. “I want to thank Dr. Pence for his expertise and leadership and recognize these five talented students with very bright futures for representing UAB so well in such an important arena.”

At least 2,724 students will graduate this spring, and more than 1,200 are expected to participate in UAB’s two spring commencement ceremonies at Bartow Arena.

Charles Collat will be awarded the President's MedalTwo commencement ceremonies and a doctoral hooding for the University of Alabama at Birmingham are set for Saturday, April 25. At least 2,724 students will graduate this spring.

The commencement ceremonies will take place at 9:30 a.m. and 2 p.m. in Bartow Arena, 617 13th St. South. An estimated 1,200 are expected to walk in the ceremonies. College of Arts and Sciences and School of Education graduates will commence at 9:30 a.m. All other graduates will attend the 2 p.m. ceremony.

The UAB Graduate School’s hooding ceremony is set for noon at UAB’s Alys Stephens Performing Arts Center. The ceremony is for students earning doctorates in education, philosophy, public health and science. For spring 2015, the university’s highest degree will be conferred on 60 students from 14 states and five countries in 25 disciplines; 48 will participate in the ceremony. The speaker will be Professor of Nursing; Chair of Acute, Chronic and Continuing Care; and Assistant Dean, Clinical Simulation and Technology in the UAB School of Nursing Jacqueline Moss, Ph.D. Moss will also bear the academic mace for the ceremony.

For the first time in its history, UAB will honor newly commissioned officers from the Air Force and Army Reserve Officer Training Corps during the two undergraduate and graduate commencement ceremonies April 25. Cadets, as well as service members and veterans in the graduating class, will stand and be recognized at graduation. This ceremony is also the first to include a graduate with a Bachelor of Science degree in public health.

A to-do list for graduates, as well as information for guests, is available on the commencement website. Tickets are not required; but seating is first come, first served. Arena doors will open at 8:30 a.m. for the morning ceremony and at 1 p.m. for the afternoon ceremony. University officials recommend guests leave nonessential bags at home or in the car. The ceremonies will be recorded and added online for viewing at www.uab.edu/commencement about a week after the ceremonies.

The bearer of the UAB academic mace for both commencement ceremonies will be Trygve Tollefsbol, Ph.D., D.O. Tollefsbol is a professor in the Department of Biology at UAB and a senior scientist in the UAB Comprehensive Cancer Center, Comprehensive Center for Healthy Aging, Nutrition Obesity Research Center and the Comprehensive Diabetes Center. He is director of the UAB Cell Senescence Culture Facility, which he established in 1999. He has published more than 120 articles related to the fields of epigenetics, aging and cancer. He was awarded this year with UAB’s Caroline P. and Charles W. Ireland Prize for Scholarly Distinction, presented to a full-time faculty member for professional and academic achievements and contributions to the university and local community.

UAB spring 2015 commencement undergraduate speakers Ameen Barghi and Alicja Maria Foksinska at their graduation from Oak Mountain High School, where they were voted "Most Presidential."Charles A. Collat Sr., UAB’s largest philanthropic supporter, will be awarded the President’s Medal at the 2 p.m. ceremony in recognition of his humanitarian deeds. Collat is chairman emeritus of Mayer Electric Supply Co., Inc., one of Birmingham’s largest privately held corporations, established in 1930 by Ben S. Weil, Patsy Collat’s father. Mr. and the late Mrs. Collat have funded UAB programs through personal contributions as well as gifts from Mayer Electric Supply and the Mayer Electric Supply Foundation. The Collats’ gifts have spanned across many areas of UAB, including naming the Collat School of Business and the Collat Chair in Neurosurgery, funding UAB Athletics, the UAB Center for Palliative and Comfort Care, AIDS research, Alzheimer’s disease research, and ophthalmologic and cancer research; and providing support for the schools of Business, Education, Engineering and Medicine.

Each ceremony will include an undergraduate and graduate speaker. Both of UAB’s undergraduate graduation speakers, Ameen Barghi and Alicja Maria Foksinska, attended Oak Mountain High School, where they graduated together and were named “Most Presidential” their senior year.

Ameen Barghi will be the undergraduate commencement speaker for the morning ceremony. He graduates with a Bachelor of Science degree in neuroscience and translational research. Barghi was elected to the Rhodes Scholar Class of 2015 and will start his graduate education at Oxford University next fall before attending medical school. He was admitted to UAB’s Early Medical School Acceptance Program. As a sophomore, Barghi won a Goldwater Scholarship. He is in the UAB Honors College’s Science and Technology Honors Program, as well as the Business Honors Program at the UAB Collat School of Business. He speaks several languages and has done health-related work in Eastern Europe and the Middle East. For six years, he has been working with stroke, MS and traumatic brain injury patients using neuro-rehabilitation techniques developed at UAB. He is interested in developing clinical imaging systems and software technologies that could allow for earlier diagnosis of progressive diseases as well as working in the public health-policy sector.

Elizabeth Simmons will be the graduate commencement speaker for the morning’s ceremony. She graduates with a Master of Arts degree in English with a concentration in literature. She also has a master’s degree in ESL education from UAB, a juris doctorate from the University of Alabama and a Bachelor of Arts degree in French from Auburn University. Simmons was recently selected by the Department of English as the Graduate Student of the Year for 2014-2015. While completing her master’s in English, she served as a graduate teaching assistant, writing tutor and assistant to the UAB University Writing Center director. Simmons was a practicing attorney for many years before deciding to focus on education and student development. After graduation, Simmons will work as an assistant director at UAB’s Career and Professional Development Services.

Alicja Foksinska will be the undergraduate commencement speaker for the afternoon ceremony. She graduates Summa Cum Laude with a Bachelor of Science degree in information systems and business management with the concentration of business administration. Foksinska is a member of the UAB Honors College’s Global and Community Leadership Honors Program, Business Honors Program and the Presidential Honors List. She has been an active student leader in campus organizations, including vice president of the Collat School of Business Student Leaders, chief marketing officer and industrials and materials sector analyst for the Green and Gold Fund, and a student tour guide for the UAB TrailBlazers. Foksinska was a research assistant and teaching assistant. Throughout college, she held a part-time job as an administrative assistant at the Diocese of Birmingham. She was a fund development coordinator intern at The Bell Center and an international recruitment intern at UAB. During her free time, she focused on her research, especially in the service-learning realm, which led her to present at research expos and conferences, including the Gulf South Summit. She is currently an IT internal auditor at Protective Life Corp. After graduation, she will continue her career at Protective Life while working toward her information systems auditor certification. She plans to remain active in the Birmingham community, especially with The Bell Center, an early intervention program for children with developmental delays.

Harsh Shah will be the graduate commencement speaker for the afternoon ceremony. He graduates with a Master of Public Health degree in health care organization and policy. He received his Bachelor of Science degree in biology from UAB in April 2014 and will be graduating with a 4.0 GPA in both programs. Shah is a member of the UAB Honors College’s University Honors Program. He is a member of the Birmingham Blazin’ Bhangra and the UAB Rangeela dance groups, and a member of the Alpha Epsilon Delta National Pre-Health Honors Society. During his collegiate career, he worked as a research assistant in the Department of Biology, Howard Hughes Phage Program and the Department of Preventive Medicine. He has been an ACT exam preparation tutor, and has a strong connection to helping the underprivileged as a volunteer with Project Downtown, Students for a Healthier Community and Highlands United Methodist Church. He plans to pursue a career in medicine, and will attend the UAB School of Medicine on a full academic scholarship.

Sadhvi Batra is one of only 40 winners nationwide for this fellowship, which begins May 25.

University of Alabama at Birminghamhonors student Sadhvi Batra is one of only 40 winners nationwide for the Humanity in Action Fellowship, which supports original research concerning intolerance and democratic values.

Humanity in Action is an international educational organization that promotes human rights and diversity. The fellowship that brings together university students and young professionals is highly competitive, with more than 700 applicants from around the globe.

“I applied for this fellowship because it promises academic rigor, calls for action and connects students to a network of inspiring senior fellows,” Batra said. “The fellowship not only will allow me to study human rights globally, but will provide me with resources and tools that will allow me to be an agent of change in my own community. Furthermore, the network of senior fellows will bring collaborations across disciplines as a means to solve the world’s most complex issues.”

Batra hopes the fellowship’s combination of research and activism will deepen her understanding of social injustices and how social issues affect public health and health inequality.

“I believe this understanding will help me pursue my career goals in becoming an academic physician and a public health expert who studies health disparities and the social determinants of health,” Batra said. “Hopefully, the research opportunities afforded by the fellowship will help me gain knowledge of resources that I can take back to my community to implement an effective and sustainable action project, and add to my perspective by making me aware of my own underlying biases, and challenge me to think about the life that I want to live and lead.”

Humanity in Action is an international educational organization that promotes human rights and diversity. The fellowship that brings together university students and young professionals is highly competitive, with more than 700 applicants from around the globe.

“As an undergraduate student, she was awarded a Young Leaders scholarship from the National AIDS Memorial Grove for her work in the fight against HIV and AIDS. She was also selected as an E3! Ambassador for the White House Initiative on Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders,” Floyd said. “Her continued commitment to human rights combined with her leadership abilities helped her land this prestigious accomplishment.”

Batra will graduate with a master’s degree in public health April 26. The fellowship begins May 25 in Washington, D.C., where the winners will begin orientation with the Council on Foreign Relations and the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. On May 30, the fellowship program will begin in Europe. The fellows will depart on June 30 after the Humanity in Action International Conference.

Upon completion of the fellowship, Batra will begin her medical education, likely at the UAB School of Medicine.

The Rangel Program is a collaborative effort between Howard University and the U.S. State Department. The undergraduate summer enrichment program is designed to enhance students’ skills, knowledge and understanding about U.S. foreign policy.

“Without a doubt, I am humbled and honored to be a Fulbright scholarship recipient,” said Chang, who also was a 2014 Goldwater Scholarship recipient and a 2013 Beckman Scholar. “I don’t think it’s fully sunk in yet.”

The Fulbright Program, sponsored by the U.S. government, gives students the opportunity to study, teach and conduct research overseas as part of the organization’s goal to increase mutual understanding between the people of the United States and other countries. Participants are selected based on academic merit and leadership potential and help contribute to finding solutions to shared international concerns.

“My inclusion in this program is possible only because of all the support that I have received from my family, friends and mentors,” Chang said. “People often congratulate and celebrate winners of prestigious awards but forget that the awards were not won by one individual. They are truly won together as a family, and these supporters should receive just as much credit.”

Most recently, Chang has worked in the labs of two mentors — Jamil Saad, Ph.D., associate professor of microbiology, and Elizabeth Sztul, Ph.D., professor of cell, developmental and integrative biology. Chang credits his collaboration with one of his first mentors, Timothy Fernandez, a UAB alumnus, for encouraging his original passion for research.

While in Germany, Chang will conduct research in the lab of Markus Zweckstetter, Ph.D., and he will focus his studies on a protein that plays a central role in the proliferation of Alzheimer’s disease. Zweckstetter’s expertise in this area will enable Chang to work in the world’s only lab to possess a crucial segment of this protein.

“Chang exemplifies the caliber of students coming to UAB in increasing numbers to prepare for dynamic careers and leadership roles that impact our state, nation and world,” said Shannon Blanton, Ph.D., dean of the UAB Honors College. “His appointment reflects UAB’s continued tradition of academic excellence and commitment to serving our local and global community.”

Chang, who graduates later this month, has big plans for his future, both in the short and long terms. He hopes to help make scientific breakthroughs during his Fulbright appointment in Germany, while also taking in the German culture. An avid pingpong enthusiast, Chang intends to spend some of his time outside of the lab furthering his skills in the sport.

“I’m ecstatic about having the opportunity to spend an entire year in Germany,” Chang said.

Eventually, Chang would like to pursue an M.D./Ph.D. degree and work to bring basic science findings to fruition in the clinic.

The scholarship is a program of the U.S. Department of State, Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs and offers intensive overseas study in 13 critical-need foreign languages.

The CLS is highly selective; only 10 percent of applicants each year are selected for the award. Thompson is the 15th UAB student to win the CLS since 2007. Thompson, a civil engineering major, will spend nine weeks this summer participating in an intensive language institute in Hikone, Japan. She plans to integrate her studies into her career in civil engineering.

Ashley Floyd, director of UAB’s Office of Fellowships, has served as a national reviewer for CLS. “The CLS Program actively seeks applicants from a diverse range of disciplines and backgrounds,” Floyd said. “Rachael’s strong foundation in the Japanese language through the College of Arts and Sciences and her commitment to using Japanese in her future career prepared her to be a strong candidate for this award.”

Thompson is a member of the UAB Honors College’s Experiential Learning Scholars Program and the Civil Engineering Honors Program and is the director of involvement for UAB’s Green Initiative. She also interns with the Alabama Environmental Council, for which she is completing a solar-mapping project. Her interdisciplinary engineering research involves working with the Department of Civil, Construction and Environmental Engineering, School of Public Health, City of Birmingham, and IBM on food deserts in our community.

“As an aspiring physician-scientist, I am honored to be selected as a UNCF/Merck Undergraduate Research Fellow,” said Coleman, biomedical engineering major. “This is a phenomenal opportunity to further demonstrate my unwavering desire and dedication to biomedical research and the medical field.”

“Winning the UNCF/Merck fellowship is a dream come true, and it’s such a great feeling knowing that hours and days of studying and research hours resulted in a great outcome,” said Larinde, neuroscience major. “I have wanted to win this prestigious award since the first day I heard about it, and with the help of my lab mentor who gave me the chance at research and my family and friends who cheered me on, I was able to achieve this goal.”

The scholarship includes participation in an internship in a chosen field of research at a Merck facility in Boston, Pennsylvania or New Jersey for 10-12 weeks this summer. It also includes a scholarship of up to $30,000, which includes up to $25,000 toward tuition, room and board.

“I am so very excited for our students and proud of their accomplishments,” said Shannon Blanton, Ph.D., dean of the UAB Honors College. “This prestigious national award provides new opportunities for each of them to further pursue their education and to build upon the excellent foundation in scientific research they have achieved here at UAB.”

The UAB Commission on the Status of Women is dedicated to enhancing options for women at every stage of their educations and careers. Work-life balance initiatives, training and development of emerging leaders, along with community outreach, can improve the academic climate and benefit the entire campus community. These efforts build on UAB’s commitment to equity and diversity, as evidenced by the educational achievements of female students, innovative teaching, scholarship and research of female faculty, and the professional advancement of female staff and administrators, says commission Chair Alesia Jones.

Join members of the commission Friday, March 20, for an afternoon with author and leadership expert Betsy Myers. Myers will guide the audience on a personal journey and offer tips on how to develop long-term vision while feeling valued. Her presentations show her audience an effective road map for leadership that unlocks human potential and maximizes productivity.

Myers speaks and leads workshops around the world on the changing nature of leadership. She is on a nationwide tour speaking on her book, “Take the Lead: Motivate, Inspire, and Bring Out the Best in Yourself and Everyone Around You.” Founding director of the Center for Women and Business at Bentley University, Myers was formerly executive director of the Center for Public Leadership at Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government. She was deputy assistant to the president in the Clinton administration and founder and owner of Myers Insurance and Financial Services, specializing in small business and the women’s market.

The commission will present awards to seven who will be honored as Outstanding Women for 2015 at a reception from 4:30-5:30 p.m. Thursday, March 19, in the UAB National Alumni Society House. The honorees and their categories are:

Outstanding Woman UAB Undergraduate Student: Yoonhee Ryder, fourth-year student in the University Honors Program; will graduate in May from the College of Arts and Sciences with a Bachelor of Science degree in biology, a Bachelor of Arts degree in anthropology, and minors in chemistry and Middle Eastern studies

Outstanding Woman in the Community: Nancy Goedecke, CEO of Mayer Electric Supply Co. She supports Collat School of Business, which is named in honor of her family’s significant philanthropy. Past president for the YWCA Junior Board and served on the board of Girl Scouts of North Central Alabama

Outstanding Woman in the Community: Sherri Van Pelt, retired vice president of development and communication at Glenwood Autism and Behavioral Health Center. She previously was senior director of development at the UAB Comprehensive Cancer Center and past executive director of VSA Arts Alabama and past president of the UAB National Alumni Society

Lifetime of Service to Women at UAB and in the Community: Caroline West, student counselor at Student Health Services; previous director of UAB Women’s Center

Nykanen, who has a 3.9 grade-point average in the highly challenging neuroscience program, is a member of the UAB Honors College’s Experiential Learning Scholars Program. This past semester, he was the Reserve Officer Training Corps Battalion Command Sergeant Major, which is awarded to the top cadet.

Truman Scholarships support the graduate education and professional development of outstanding young people committed to public service leadership. UAB has produced six Truman Scholars and 11 finalists.

The undergraduate neuroscience program, a collaboration between the UAB College of Arts and Sciences and School of Medicine, attracts top students who are able to work in the labs of world-class neuroscience researchers for three or four years. Nykanen has balanced his research time —first with circadian rhythm researcher Karen Gamble, Ph.D., assistant professor in the Department of Psychiatry, and now with MiYoung Kwon, Ph.D., assistant professor in the Department of Ophthalmology — with the time demands of ROTC, which usually are 20 to 25 hours a week.

“The Truman Scholarship seeks students with intellectual merit, demonstrated leadership and a commitment to public service,” said Ashley Floyd, associate director of the UAB Honors College and director of the Office of National and International Fellowships and Scholarships. “Having maintained near-perfect grades as a neuroscience major while also holding leadership positions in ROTC and serving children with muscular dystrophy, Brian exemplifies the Truman selection criteria.”

Nykanen’s heart is in both the neuroscience and the Army training. His family has faced a number of brain disorders, Nykanen said.

“My mom has had two brain tumors,” he said. “From her college brain tumor, she suffered epilepsy and a stroke. My uncle in Atlanta, who helped raise me, suffers from multiple sclerosis.”

Those experiences evoked his keen interest in UAB’s undergraduate neuroscience program. But he faced a problem: “I had to find a way to finance college, or I wasn’t going.”

Brian Nykanen, far left, with the UAB Army ROTC volunteering with Habitat for Humanity. Nykanen discovered the Army ROTC program while searching for college aid. ROTC covers his college expenses, and in return, he will have to serve four years of active duty and four years of National Guard or Army Reserve duty. If his dream of going to medical school comes true, ROTC will cover that, and his service commitment will double.

ROTC training has meant much more than money to Nykanen.

“I’m in love with ROTC here at UAB,” he said. “I have nothing but opportunities, left and right. I’m learning leadership skills. I came here as a teenager, and I became an adult.”

Lt. Col. Arieyeh J. Austin, professor of military science at UAB, said that Nykanen exemplifies the values of citizenship, national and community service, and personal responsibility that ROTC tries to instill as it educates, trains and commissions college students to be officers and leaders of character in the Total Army.

“Selected from among his cohort to serve as the Battalion Command Sergeant Major, he embodies the ethos of what we stand for,” Austin said. “UAB ROTC completed more than 82 community-service projects or interactions in the past five months, averaging around one every two days. Events ranged from community blood drives, Veterans Hospital, Habitat for Humanity, American Legion, Veterans of Foreign Wars, Health Fairs, DECA, clothing drives and other efforts. Brian volunteered for almost all of these events and was able to do this while still maintaining a 3.9 GPA. He is what every student should strive to be here at UAB.”

With Kwon, Nykanen will help study how the brains of glaucoma patients react to the loss of visual field and its effect on the visual pathway — from the optic nerve to the lateral geniculate nucleus of the brain, and then on to the brain’s visual cortical area.

Nykanen, from Navarre, Florida, is interested in pediatrics, and he specifically wants to target children who are underserved. After completing his duties as an Army ROTC cadet at UAB, Nykanen will receive a commission in the Army; there he hopes to create new policies that cast more medical attention on the children of service members. He plans to build his career as a pediatrician in the Army and later serve as a rural health care provider.

Two dozen students were honored with Gold and Silver Student ADDY awards for their individual and team projects. The Digital Media Fellows program is a paid student program in which students from a variety of disciplines work in teams to produce media content for clients. This year’s award winners are all UAB clients, including UAB Admissions, UAB Honors College, AEIVA and TRIO Academic Services, says Director of Digital Media and Learning Rosie O’Beirne, M.A. Many of the students are majoring in the arts, including music, art and film. The awards they have received this year are a testament to the importance of a team approach because that is needed to create quality work, she says.

The Department of Art and Art History has a fantastic group of young artists and designers, who consistently demonstrate creativity, resourcefulness and hard work, Barrett says.

“By participating in the local ADDYs, our students have their work seen by design professionals and are able to gain a sense of how much their work is valued by the design community. Year after year, UAB takes home the Best of Show for student ADDYs, a recognition indicative of our students’ hard work and of the quality of our curriculum,” Barrett said.

2014 DAAH alumnus Ryan Meyer of Birmingham, a member of the team that won Best of Show, says he spent a year and a half in UAB Digital Media, honing skills every day.

“It’s the type of environment that lets students get their hands dirty and learn more than they ever could in a classroom,” Meyer said. “I have no doubt that I wouldn’t have my job at Scout Branding Company without the ADDY award-winning work I produced while at UAB Digital Media.”

The scholarship was founded by an act of Parliament in 1953 in honor of U.S. Secretary of State George C. Marshall and his Marshall Plan to rebuild Europe after the devastation of World War II. The scholarship celebrates the continued close relationship between the United States and the United Kingdom by financing American students to study for a graduate degree in the United Kingdom.

Her Majesty’s Consul General Jeremy Pilmore-Bedford, Regional Marshall Scholarship chairman Jeffrey Rosensweig, Ph.D., and UAB President Ray L. Watts, M.D., addressed students and fellowship advisors from seven Alabama universities. Mandy Smith, executive officer of the British Consulate-General Atlanta, Senior Vice Provost Suzanne Austin, Ph.D., and Honors College Dean Shannon Blanton, Ph.D., joined the reception. Ashley Floyd, Director of the Office of National and International Fellowships and Scholarships, coordinated the statewide event for the first time in 2013 and again this year.

“UAB is honored to host this reception and we, along with other universities represented here, are very proud to be part of the longtime, special relationship between the U.S. and the U.K.,” Watts said. “UAB is a university that thrives on local and global collaboration and, as such, we have a number of fruitful research, technology, health care and education partnerships with U.K. universities and medical centers.”

“UAB is a university that thrives on local and global collaboration and, as such, we have a number of fruitful research, technology, health care and education partnerships with U.K. universities and medical centers.”

Pilmore-Bedford highlighted Britain’s multicultural society and modern, high-tech industries, as well as the type of student that makes an ideal Marshall Scholar.

“We’re looking for academic firepower and ambassadorial potential,” he said. “As a result, we’ve seen some very well-known people secure Marshall Scholarships in all walks of life.”

UAB student Jason Lott won a Marshall Scholarship in 2001, and several UAB students have been regional finalists. The most recent winner from Alabama was Patrick Donnan, a 2014 graduate of Auburn University.

Students interested in scholarship and fellowship opportunities like the Marshall should visit the Office of National and International Fellowships and Scholarships, part of the UAB Honors College.

After graduating in spring, these exemplary students will spend two years teaching high-need students in low-income areas.

University of Alabama at Birmingham seniors Tori Gandy, Yamani Bhat and Adelaide Beckman have been invited to join the 2015 Teach for America Corps. They will spend the next two years teaching in low-income areas throughout America.

Teach for America (TFA) is a nonprofit corps comprising high-achieving recent college graduates and professionals. Corps members are committed to expanding educational opportunities for children facing the challenges of poverty by committing for two years to teach in high-need schools.

The TFA application process is highly competitive, with a 15 percent acceptance rate in 2014. UAB’s new corps members were chosen from more than 50,000 applicants from more than 850 American college and universities. TFA recruits corps members from diverse backgrounds and a wide range of academic disciplines.

The TFA application process is highly competitive, with a 15 percent acceptance rate in 2014. UAB’s new corps members were chosen from more than 50,000 applicants from more than 850 American college and universities.

Beckman, a communication studies major, is a recipient of the Department of Communication Studies’ James E. Mills Scholarship and the Dean’s Leadership Scholarship. She also is a member of the University Honors Program and was a teaching assistant for the program’s fall interdisciplinary course. On campus, Beckman has been involved as a UAB TrailBlazer and presented an individual paper at the 2014 Southern Regional Honors Conference in Savannah, Georgia. As a member of TFA, Beckman will teach English as a second language.

After graduating, the three TFA volunteers will attend an intensive five-week training program to prepare them for their teaching experience and familiarize them with their regions and school districts. They will begin teaching in August.

Kasman’s prize includes a prestigious opportunity to perform with the symphony in March and a $1,500 cash prize.

UPDATE: Aleksandra Kasman won first prize at the Alabama Federation of Music Clubs Collegiate Award Auditions on Saturday, Feb. 28 in Tuscaloosa. Her competitors were students from all the leading music institutions in Alabama. She won a $1,000 prize, as well as an opportunity to compete in this competition on the national level by submitting a recording of her performance. University of Alabama at Birmingham sophomore Aleksandra Kasman of Vestavia Hills won the LaGrange Symphony Orchestra’s Young Artists Competition on Saturday, Feb. 7. Her prize includes a performance with the LaGrange Symphony on March 17 and a cash award of $1,500.

The LaGrange Symphony Orchestra in Georgia holds this competition annually for collegiate students from six Southeast states: Alabama, Florida, Georgia, North Carolina, South Carolina and Tennessee. They rotate the instrument of competition, so the piano category happens every three years, says UAB Professor of Piano Yakov Kasman, who is both Aleksandra’s father and her teacher.

“The opportunity to be a soloist with a professional orchestra in its regular concert season is priceless even for concert artists,” Yakov Kasman said. “It is an absolutely unique opportunity and honor for a student from even the biggest music schools of the nation. We here in the UAB Department of Music are quite proud of her.”

Six years ago, UAB student Kseniia Polstiankina was a winner of that competition. Polstiankina graduated from UAB in 2011 and is now pursuing her Doctor of Musical Arts degree at the Cincinnati Conservatory.

To honor the 206th birthday of legendary evolutionary biologist Charles Darwin, the University of Alabama at Birmingham will host Darwin Day on Thursday, Feb. 12, and Friday, Feb. 13. The events will celebrate scientific research in evolutionary biology and other disciplines.

“Charles Darwin’s great discovery, the principle of natural selection, is more relevant to science than ever before,” said Steven Austad, Ph.D., chair of the Department of Biology. “For instance, it underlies our increasing success in cancer chemotherapy, provides guidance in combating new strains of drug-resistant diseases, and ultimately will determine how catastrophic climate change will prove to be for our planet.”

On Thursday, a public poster session highlighting the work of UAB faculty and students will kick off this year’s Darwin Day events. The session, which is being held from 2-4:30 p.m. in Lister Hill Library’s Edge of Chaos, will feature exciting new research from students and faculty. Those interested in presenting a poster should email darwinday@uab.edu with their name, department, poster title, and indication of whether they are a student, postdoc or faculty.

On Thursday from 6-8 p.m., Darwin Day activities will continue with a talk by Carl Zimmer, world-renowned science writer for The New York Times and author of the book “A Planet of Viruses.” Zimmer’s lecture, “Darwin’s Ebola: The Evolution of Deadly Viruses (and Not-So-Deadly Ones),” will be held in the McWane Science Center and is open to the public. Reservations can be made by calling 205-714-8414; Zimmer’s books also may be bought through the reservation system.

“The approach of Charles Darwin represents the scientific endeavor at its best wherein data and reasoning interact to elucidate the natural world. Anthropologists and other students of science today will be well-served by striving to emulate Darwin’s objectivity, meticulous attention to detail and appreciation for complexity during the practice of science.”

Darwin Day will continue on Friday, Feb. 13, from 4-6 p.m., with a lecture from Emory University primatologist Frans De Waal, Ph.D., provided through an endowment for the John S. Jemison, Jr., Visiting Professorship in the Humanities. De Waal’s talk, “War and Peace Among the Primates,” will discuss his book “The Bonobo and the Atheist: In Search of Humanism Among the Primates” in the UAB Hospital-Highlands Media Center. To attend this lecture, please RSVP to darwinday@uab.edu. Darwin Day activities will wrap up with the Adaptation Party at Desert Island Supply Company on Friday at 7 p.m. Attendees are invited to come dressed as their favorite adaptation.

“The approach of Charles Darwin represents the scientific endeavor at its best wherein data and reasoning interact to elucidate the natural world,” said Doug Fry, Ph.D., chair of the Department of Anthropology. “Anthropologists and other students of science today will be well-served by striving to emulate Darwin’s objectivity, meticulous attention to detail and appreciation for complexity during the practice of science.”

Refreshments and drinks will be provided at all events, and Darwin Day T-shirts will be on sale as well.

Founded in 2007 by former President Bill Clinton, CGIU engages the next generation of campus leaders to address global issues in the Initiative’s five focus areas: education, environmental and climate change, peace and human rights, poverty alleviation, and public health.

“Students from diverse disciplines across our campus have long been involved in international initiatives that stem from our mission of teaching, research and service,” said Suzanne Austin, Ph.D., senior vice provost for Student and Faculty Success. “UAB is proud to work with CGIU to foster students’ ambitious projects that will serve local and international communities. We are very proud of and excited for these 17 outstanding students.”

To join CGIU, students develop Commitments to Action, which are new, specific and measurable initiatives that could benefit their own communities or communities around the world.

“I love CGIU because it enables students to engage in something they’re passionate about that is not necessarily something that’s related to their major or their course of study,” said Libba Vaughan, UAB’s coordinator of service learning. “When I talk to students about CGIU, at least one student in the room lights up, because they already have an idea they’re excited about. CGIU is a way for them to jump-start their idea.”

At the meeting, students get feedback on their ideas and learn steps they can take to fulfill their commitments.

“The meeting teaches students skills such as fundraising and expands their network of people around the world who can help them make their idea happen,” Vaughan said.

“One of the things that I find most impressive about our honors students is their commitment to social activism,” said Shannon Blanton, Ph.D., dean of the UAB Honors College. “They are not content to simply learn about the need for social change — so many actively seek to make a difference themselves in the lives of others, both in our local community and abroad. I look forward to hearing about their experiences and what tangible change results from their efforts.”

Three biomedical engineering majors, Gaurav Agrawal, freshman and STH student, Ananya Bandyopadhyay, sophomore Honors College student, and Sara Liaghati-Mobarhan, senior and STH student, are planning a project called “Engineers Next Door – Lavatory Initiative” that will partner with local citizens to build toilet infrastructures in Rajound, India. The project will provide safe, sanitary facilities for women of lower castes in the state of Haryana, in northern India.

Junhi Chang, sophomore in biomedical engineering and GCL student, and Joseph Richardson, sophomore international studies and political science major in the ELS program, want to raise awareness of proper mental health care among the growing Korean-American community in Alabama. Their project, “Healthy Minds, Healthy Community,” would work against the Korean cultural stigmatization of mental health issues such as depression and eating disorders.

Raghu Kasa, junior public health major and GCL student, wants to establish a chapter of ONE at UAB to campaign and advocate for the reduction of poverty in sub-Saharan Africa. ONE at UAB will engage students to act upon issues that sub-Saharan African countries face, including infectious diseases, lack of reliable power and chronic hunger. Students will work collaboratively to make changes on a local and political level.

Rebecca Massey, freshman biology major and STH student, proposes a program called “Pre-Med Partners” that will address the lack of diversity among medical students in the United States. A student organization at UAB will partner current pre-med students with underprivileged high-school students, giving them the resources and mentoring they need to become successful pre-med students and doctors.

Ali Massoud, senior international studies major and UHP student, will be attending his second CGIU. He proposes an “Egyptian Exchange” to send a group of UAB students to Cairo to collaborate with Egyptian students to find solutions to problems present in both countries, such as socioeconomic disparity, gender inequality and environmental sustainability. By approaching these issues from different perspectives, students from both countries will engage in a cross-cultural dialogue and come up with creative solutions. Those solutions then will be incorporated into experiential learning courses at UAB and universities in Egypt so that American and Egyptian students can turn their ideas into action.

Nicole Ogle, senior sociology major and Experiential Learning Scholar, hopes to help first-generation college students transition from high school to college through a program called “Mentoring for a Change.” Entering an honors program as freshmen can be especially challenging for such students. “Mentoring for a Change” hopes to increase the retention rate of the 15.7 percent of first-generation college students in the UAB Honors College. Providing support for first-generation college students from upperclassmen who are also first-generation college students will create greater cohesion among first-generation college students and the Honors College.

Shejuti Paul, senior neuroscience major in the Early Medical School Acceptance Program and UHP student, will work to foster fellowship among people of different faiths through a commitment called “Better Together, Birmingham.” Through the common goal of meeting the needs of children living in poverty, she would like to involve youth groups to take a more active role in both interfaith work and addressing poverty within their communities.

Rebecca Sylvester, sophomore public health major and GCL student, plans a program called “Stairway to Health” to encourage UAB students, faculty and staff to use stairs rather than elevators by enhancing stairwells across campus with art, words of encouragement and facts about the health benefits of taking the stairs.

Abdullah Tarawneh, sophomore biomedical engineering and computer science major and STH student, wants to expand educational opportunities to refugee children in the Zaatari refugee camp in Jordan. During the next two years, this commitment will work with key partners to introduce Internet computing with school computer labs, making educational and Internet resources more accessible for long-term residents of a camp that is growing more permanent.

Richard Trieu, sophomore neuroscience major and STH student, will establish a program called “StartU” to give access to an educational platform that will help develop the skills, environment and resources an individual needs to create his or her own startup and American dream.

Founded in 2007 by former President Bill Clinton, CGIU engages the next generation of campus leaders to address global issues in the Initiative’s five focus areas: education, environmental and climate change, peace and human rights, poverty alleviation, and public health.

“Students from diverse disciplines across our campus have long been involved in international initiatives that stem from our mission of teaching, research and service,” said Suzanne Austin, Ph.D., senior vice provost for Student and Faculty Success. “UAB is proud to work with CGIU to foster students’ ambitious projects that will serve local and international communities. We are very proud of and excited for these 17 outstanding students.”

To join CGIU, students develop Commitments to Action, which are new, specific and measurable initiatives that could benefit their own communities or communities around the world.

“I love CGIU because it enables students to engage in something they’re passionate about that is not necessarily something that’s related to their major or their course of study,” said Libba Vaughan, UAB’s coordinator of service learning. “When I talk to students about CGIU, at least one student in the room lights up, because they already have an idea they’re excited about. CGIU is a way for them to jump-start their idea.”

At the meeting students get feedback on their ideas and learn steps they can take to fulfill their commitments.

“The meeting teaches students skills such as fundraising and expands their network of people around the world who can help them make their idea happen,” Vaughan said.

The students represent four schools and nine fields of study. Fourteen participants are undergraduate honors students, and three are graduate students.

Three biomedical engineering majors, Gaurav Agrawal, freshman and Science and Technology Honors student, Ananya Bandyopadhyay, sophomore and UAB Honors Scholar, and Sara Liaghati-Mobarhan, senior and Science and Technology Honors student, are planning a project called “Engineers Next Door – Lavatory Initiative” that will partner with local citizens to build toilet infrastructures in Rajound, India. The project will provide safe, sanitary facilities for women of lower castes in the state of Haryana, in northern India.

Students in the master of science in criminal justicedegree program Jessica Deitzer, Julien Grayer and Megan Webb, who also is pursuing a master of public administration degree, plan to confront misinformation on crime through a project called “Smart on Crime: Bridging the Gap between Perceptions and Reality.” Public misinformation can affect criminal justice policy, as crime is highly politicized and politicians seek to please the public. The goal of this commitment is to confront this misinformation with objective, empirical data and make it easily accessible to the American public by creating an attention-grabbing website that is both informational and interesting.

Raghu Kasa, junior public health major and Global and Community Leadership Honors Program student, wants to establish a chapter of ONE at UAB to campaign and advocate for the reduction of poverty in sub-Saharan Africa. ONE at UAB will engage students to act upon issues that sub-Saharan African countries face, including infectious diseases, lack of reliable power and chronic hunger. Students will work collaboratively to make change on a local and political level.

Rebecca Massey, freshman biology major and Science and Technology Honors student, proposes a program called “Pre-Med Partners” that will address the lack of diversity among medical students in the United States. A student organization at UAB will partner current pre-med students with underprivileged high-school students, giving them the resources and mentoring they need to become successful pre-med students and doctors.

Ali Massoud, senior international studies major and University Honors Program student, will be attending his second CGIU. He proposes an “Egyptian Exchange” to send a group of UAB students to Cairo to collaborate with Egyptian students to find solutions to problems present in both countries, such as socioeconomic disparity, gender inequality and environmental sustainability. By approaching these issues from different perspectives, students from both countries will engage in a cross-cultural dialogue and come up with creative solutions. Those solutions then will be incorporated into experiential learning courses at UAB and universities in Egypt so that American and Egyptian students can turn their ideas into action.

Andrew Milstead, senior finance major in the UAB Collat School of Business and Business Honors student, hopes to bring natural apiaries to the Birmingham area through his project, “Pollinator Sustainability.” During the next two years, organization members will build, distribute and expand apiaries with sustainable pollinator gardens to various locations that have been affected by colony-collapse disorder. Hebee aims to foster shared value within the communities served by increasing the rate of pollination and raising awareness by partnering with the Pollinator Health Task Force established by President Barack Obama in June 2014.

Nicole Ogle, senior sociology major and Experiential Learning Scholar, hopes to help first-generation college students transition from high school to college through a program called “Mentoring for a Change.” Entering an honors program as freshmen can be especially challenging for such students. “Mentoring for a Change” hopes to increase the retention rate of the 15.7 percent of first-generation college students in the UAB Honors College. Providing support for first-generation college students from upperclassmen who are also first-generation college students will create greater cohesion among first-generation college students and the Honors College.

Shejuti Paul, senior neuroscience major in the Early Medical School Acceptance Program and University Honors Program student, will work to foster fellowship among people of different faiths through a commitment called “Better Together, Birmingham.” Through the common goal of meeting the needs of children living in poverty, she would like to involve youth groups to take a more active role in both interfaith work and addressing poverty within their community.

Rebecca Sylvester, sophomore public health major and student in the Global and Community Leadership Honors Program, plans a program called “Stairway to Health” to encourage UAB students, faculty and staff to use stairs rather than elevators by enhancing stairwells across campus with art, words of encouragement and facts about the health benefits of taking the stairs.

Abdullah Tarawneh, sophomore biomedical engineering and computer science major and Science and Technology Honors student, wants to expand educational opportunities to refugee children in the Zaatari refugee camp in Jordan. During the next two years, this commitment will work with key partners to introduce Internet computing with school computer labs, making educational and Internet resources more accessible for long-term residents of a camp that is growing more permanent.

Richard Trieu, sophomore neuroscience major and Science and Technology Honors student, will establish a program called “StartU” to give access to an educational platform that will help develop the skills, environment and resources an individual needs to create his or her own startup and American dream.

The majority of the NCHC’s 900 member institutions participated in the conference. Students from honors programs and colleges nationwide submitted posters in nine categories.

The winner in the business, engineering and computer science category was Lily Deng, a junior University Honors Program and biomedical engineering major mentored by Ho-Wook Jun, Ph.D., associate professor in the Department of Biomedical Engineering, whose presentation was titled “Crosstalk Between Human Mesenchymal Stem Cells and Human Umbilical Vein Endothelial Cells on a Peptide Amphiphile Scaffold.”

The co-winners in the natural sciences and mathematics category were Ranjani Ponnazhagan, a junior University Honors Program neuroscience major mentored by David Standaert, M.D., chairman of the Department of Neurology, whose presentation was titled “Metabotropic Glutamate Receptor 4 Positive Allosteric Modulators Attenuate LPS-Induced Inflammation in Microglia Cells”; and John Decker, a junior University Honors Program neuroscience major mentored by Paul Gamlin, Ph.D., professor in the Department of Ophthalmology, whose presentation was titled “Voluntary Eye-Movements to Cyclopean, Monocularly Invisible Targets.”

Photo credit: Tianjiao ZhangEach poster presentation was judged by a faculty member, typically an honors director or dean from honors colleges and programs throughout the United States and abroad.

“It is quite an achievement for an honors program or college to have a student winner in any of the nine categories and an extremely rare event for a program or school to have multiple winners,” said Michael Sloane, Ph.D., director of UHP.

The UAB contingent included 30 honors students as well as faculty and staff from the Honors College and its specialized programs.

“The conference was a wonderful opportunity for our honors students to present their research in a national forum and interact with other honors students from across the country,” said Honors College Dean Shannon Blanton, Ph.D. “We are extremely proud of their achievements and delighted that such accomplished students represent UAB.”

Looking forward to a promising 2015, UAB News revisits some top stories of 2014.

The University of Alabama at Birmingham experienced many successes and milestones in 2014, including student accomplishments, faculty hires, records set, campus improvements, groundbreaking research and more.

The new UAB Student Health and Wellness Center opened in September 2014. It boasts 23,000 square feet of space dedicated to the health, counseling and wellness needs of UAB students. A new freshman residence hall will open in summer 2015 and will house more than 700 students. By the fall semester, students, faculty and staff will enjoy the new 159,000-square-foot UAB Student Center, which will be home to student services and activities, as well as Full Moon Bar-B-Que, Panera Bread, Mein Bowl and Starbucks.

“Excitement for the construction of a new student center is growing,” said Carolyn Farley, director of Academic and Student Services. “This incredible building will create a much better student experience.”

Thousands of middle and high school students in Alabama’s Black Belt will be on the path to higher education in 2015, as UAB recently secured the largest nonhealth-related grant in its history to lead the U.S. Department of Education’s Gaining Early Awareness and Readiness for Undergraduate Programs (GEAR UP) grant program in Alabama. The UAB School of Education has been awarded a seven-year, $49 million grant to increase the number of low-income students prepared to enter and succeed in postsecondary education. UAB will serve as the hub of GEAR UP Alabama. This is the first time Alabama has been awarded funds from GEAR UP, which began in 1998.

UAB is making significant investments in UAB Teach, which gives undergraduate students studying science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) disciplines the ability to enhance career opportunities while improving education across Alabama.

UAB honors student Ameen Barghi was elected to the Rhodes Scholar Class of 2015. He is one of 32 outstanding students in the United States who will start their all-expenses-paid, graduate educations at Oxford University next fall. Barghi is the third UAB student since 2000 named as a Rhodes Scholar.

Barghi, 22, was able to work on computational analyses of MRI neuroimaging, publishing five papers in peer-reviewed research journals as part of the lab of Edward Taub, Ph.D., a world-renowned behavioral neuroscientist in UAB’s psychology department in the UAB College of Arts and Sciences.

“I had the opportunity to learn clinical neuroscience at its finest,” Barghi said. “I’m getting experiences at UAB that kids from the best institutions around the world can’t get.”

Some of the transformational research produced yearly by UAB investigators is supported in part by funding from the National Institutes of Health. In 2014, UAB NIH funding increased by 20 percent to $225 million, which puts UAB 10th among public universities, and several of its schools highly ranked nationally.

In 2014, countless published articles from UAB-affiliated authors appeared on ScienceDirect, the world’s leading source for scientific, technical and medical research. Over the last four years, UAB articles published on ScienceDirect combined for an average of more than 1 million downloads a year.

“UAB and SRI have spent a lot of time, money and energy developing the ADDA over the last five years,” Whitley said. “This grant shows how that investment can pay off.”

A UAB School of Optometry researcher is studying a leading cause of death among newborns worldwide. Group B Streptococcus is a bacterium carried by about 40 percent of healthy women, and as many as 25 percent pass it to their infants during birth, despite screening and preventive treatment. Narayana Sthanam, Ph.D., professor of structural biology in the School of Optometry, is working to discover how it escapes the mother’s natural defense systems in hopes that knowledge will lead to a therapeutic intervention. His research is funded by a $1 million R01 grant from the NIH/NIAID.

The start of 2015 will see recruitment begin for a potentially groundbreaking human clinical trial to test a drug shown to completely reverse diabetes in human islets and mice. The three-year, $2.1 million trial funded by the JDRF, known as “the repurposing of verapamil as a beta cell survival therapy in type 1 diabetes,” has come to fruition after more than a decade of research efforts in UAB’s Comprehensive Diabetes Center. Too much of the protein TXNIP – which is increased within pancreatic beta cells in response to diabetes – leads to cell death and thwarts the body’s efforts to produce insulin, thereby contributing to the progression of diabetes.

“We have previously shown that verapamil can prevent diabetes and even reverse the disease in mouse models and reduce TXNIP in human islet beta cells, suggesting that it may have beneficial effects in humans as well,” said Anath Shalev, M.D., principal investigator of the verapamil clinical trial and director of the Comprehensive Diabetes Center.

The nation’s largest single-site kidney transplant chain will also continue into 2015 at UAB. The UAB kidney chain began Dec. 5, 2013, and was featured nationally on the ABC News program “Nightline” on July 3, 2014, and across multiple news outlets. The program featured several members of the current chain and showcased the work of UAB Medicine physicians, nurses and staff who helped make this lifesaving, complex chain a reality.

“To me, these are miracles,” said Jayme Locke, M.D., surgical director of the Incompatible Kidney Transplant ProgramUAB’s School of Medicine and coordinator of the chain. “From our perspective, this is a significant achievement for the 100,000 people around the country on the waiting list for a transplant, including almost 4,000 people here in Alabama.”

Cancer survivors will continue to have the opportunity to cope, heal and grow, thanks to Harvest for Health, a UAB study that pairs cancer survivors with master gardeners from the Alabama Cooperative Extension System. Harvest for Health began with a pilot study in Jefferson County, Alabama, in 2011.

“We asked the question ‘If cancer survivors started a vegetable garden, would they eat more vegetables?’” said Wendy Demark-Wahnefried, Ph.D., R.D., associate director for Cancer Prevention and Control in the UAB Comprehensive Cancer Center and a professor in the Department of Nutrition Sciences in the UAB School of Health Professions. “We found they not only ate more vegetables, they also got more exercise. And their physical functioning improved dramatically,” she said, noting that the study has since been expanded to many counties surrounding Birmingham, along with the Cullman, Montgomery, Mobile and Dothan areas, with support from the National Cancer Institute.

Younger’s work at Stanford yielded new treatments for pain and fatigue, and he is continuing that work at UAB. “We believe that, in many cases when someone is suffering from chronic pain or fatigue, they may be suffering from low-level inflammation in their brain,” Younger said. “We are investigating ways to return the brain to its normal state.”

The UAB School of Nursing and Birmingham VA Medical Center are again expanding their 43-year-old partnership and the focus on veterans' mental health needs. Created with a five-year grant from the Veterans Health Administration to the Birmingham VAMC, the two are partnering on the VA Nursing Academic Partnerships in Graduate Education (VANAP-GE), the only one of its kind in the country, and will put 48 new psychiatric-mental health nurse practitioners into the VA workforce over the next five years.

The School of Nursing’s ongoing partnership with the Birmingham VAMC played a role in the site’s selection, says Cynthia Selleck, Ph.D., R.N., FNP, the School’s associate dean for Clinical and Global Partnerships. Since 2008, the two institutions have worked together on several key projects, including the VA Nursing Academy Partnership, which teams VA Medical Centers with accredited schools of nursing with the goal of providing compassionate, highly educated nurses to meet the health care needs of America’s heroes.

The UAB School of Dentistry has secured several grants to improve oral health care and access in Alabama and is applying for more to continue widening its scope. With the help of community collaborations, the School of Dentistry has the ability to use its resources to improve the oral health of Alabamians and positively shape the education of the students within the school.

“We like our students to be exposed to these types of activities and initiatives because it gives them a broader perspective,” said Allen Conan Davis, DMD, assistant dean for Community Collaborations and Public Health in the School of Dentistry. “Many of our students choose to do a year’s extension program with a general practice residency, and we want to provide opportunities in the state so they will stay here. By locating them in nearby areas, we hope they will choose to practice in these areas, too.”

UAB will also continue using arts education to empower young people in the Woodlawn community through the ArtReach program, which has had over 1,500 participants since its inception. ArtReach is an endeavor of ArtPlay, the Alys Stephens Performing Arts Center’s home for arts education.

ArtPlay will present two premieres for the upcoming 2015 season: “The Clever George Washington Carver” on Saturday, Feb. 21, and DanceE’s “A DanceE Wild Rumpus” on Sunday, April 26.

The ASC’s new season of shows will feature legendary and rising artists including Branford Marsalis, The Jung Trio, Arlo Guthrie, Aaron Neville Duo, the Wailers, California and Montreal Guitar Trios, Diana Krall, Australia’s Sway Poles, Steve Winwood, and Dr. John and the Nite Trippers. Young Concert Artists and rising stars Andrew Tyson and Julia Bullock will bookend the season and perform as part of the intimate ArtPlay Parlor Music Series. For tickets, a copy of The Center Magazine or more information, call 205-975-2787 or visit www.AlysStephens.org.

Barghi is one of just 32 Rhodes scholars across the U.S., and he is UAB’s third Rhodes winner since 2000.

Photo by Jared BashAmeen Barghi of the University of Alabama at Birmingham was elected to the Rhodes scholar Class of 2015 on Saturday. He is one of 32 outstanding U.S. students who will start their all-expenses-paid, graduate educations at Oxford University next fall.

Barghi is the third UAB student since 2000 named as a Rhodes scholar.

The 2015 competition began with a pool of 877 applicants nominated by their colleges and universities across the nation. On Saturday, 256 of those students were interviewed in groups of 16 in 16 separate districts. Two winners were chosen from each group.

Each applicant was questioned for 20 minutes by a seven-person committee. After nearly three hours of deliberation, the committee announced the two District 7 winners: Barghi and Jane Darby Menton, a Yale University student from Florida.

Barghi, 22, began his work at UAB as a hospital volunteer in 10th grade, and then joined the lab of Edward Taub, Ph.D., a world-renowned behavioral neuroscientist in UAB’s psychology department in the UAB College of Arts and Sciences. There, Barghi worked on computational analyses of MRI neuroimaging, publishing five papers in peer-reviewed research journals. Taub is the pioneer of constraint-induced movement therapy to improve patients’ movement after stroke, multiple sclerosis, or other neurological injuries or diseases.

“He just opened his door to me,” Barghi said. “I had the opportunity to learn clinical neuroscience at its finest. … I’m getting experiences at UAB that kids from the best institutions around the world can’t get.”

“He’s as good as my graduate students,” Taub said of Barghi. “He will be a first-class scientist. He excels in almost everything — reasoning, strong application, and a firm sense of how to get things done and how to approach people.”

His grade-point average is 4.0, and he won a Goldwater Scholarship as a sophomore.

“He will be a first-class scientist. He excels in almost everything — reasoning, strong application, and a firm sense of how to get things done and how to approach people.”

“We wish Ameen every success as he pursues his Doctor of Philosophy degree in clinical neuroscience at Oxford next October,” said Ray Watts, M.D., president of UAB. “He exemplifies the passion and excellence we seek from every student at UAB — undergraduate, graduate and professional.”

Barghi credits Amanda Bittinger, his Oak Mountain High School calculus teacher and math team coach, for his intellectual awakening.

“She instilled this constant curiosity, this constant passion,” Barghi said. “She taught us that, even if you get an answer, you still need to know why. I still use that framework in everything I do. Before that, my goals had just been utilitarian — I tried to circle the answer as soon as possible.”

Questions for Barghi from the Rhodes selection committee on Saturday included explaining the physics of magnetic resonance imaging, describing neuroplasticity, naming his favorite composer from his freshman music appreciation class, discussing business/corporate ethics and more. Barghi says the music class actually focused on the Beatles, and he chose John Lennon after watching the movie “A Hard Day’s Night.”

“… Ameen is also active in community programs relating to substance abuse, on a crisis line, in blood drives and hospital clinics. He speaks Azari and Farsi and has also done health-related work in Azerbaijan and Iran. He has also, for five years, worked intimately with the low-income community of Bessemer, Alabama. He is interested in developing clinical imaging systems and software technologies that could allow for earlier diagnosis of progressive diseases.”

Carl McFarland, Ph.D., a professor of psychology and co-director of the Undergraduate Neuroscience Program, said Barghi is unusual. “What he has over every student I’ve ever known — graduate or undergraduate — is a confidence that is off the chart. When he talks to distinguished scientists, he is not intimidated.”

Ameen Barghi, of Birmingham, and Yoonhee Ryder, of Huntsville, have been named finalists for the Rhodes Scholarship, and Ryder also is a finalist for the Marshall Scholarship.

The Rhodes Scholarships are the world’s oldest international fellowship awards and fund 32 students’ pursuit of degrees from Oxford University. Rhodes Scholars are chosen for their outstanding scholarly achievements as well as for their character, commitment to others, and to the common good.

Yoonhee RyderMarshall Scholarships finance up to 40 young Americans of high ability to study for a graduate degree in any field of study the United Kingdom.

Kasman, a music major, will now represent Alabama at the MTNA Southern Division auditions and face eight competitors in Knoxville, Tennessee, in January. The winner will go on to the MTNA National Competition to be held in the spring.

The MTNA hosts this annual competition, which is held first at the state level, then at the division level and, ultimately, nationally. The MTNA has seven divisions in the country; Alabama is in the Southern division, which includes nine states.

Kasman played works by Bach, Debussy, Rachmaninoff and Shostakovich. Her competitors were from Auburn University, the University of Alabama and the University of Montevallo.

Kasman studies piano in the UAB Department of Music with her father, Professor of Piano Yakov Kasman. In his 13 years at UAB, Yakov Kasman says his students have won this prestigious competition at the state level nine times.

His younger daughter, Dina, a ninth-grader at Vestavia Hills High School, won the Alabama MTNA Junior auditions, and will also travel with her father and sister to the Southern Division auditions to compete.

The winners of the 33rd annual Mr. and Ms. UAB Scholarship Competition were announced at UAB’s Homecoming game Saturday, Oct. 11, at Legion Field. Ethan Gissendaner of Eufaula and Asia Sullivan of Castleberry were named as first alternates.

Sponsored by the UAB National Alumni Society, this tradition recognizes outstanding male and female students on campus who have demonstrated scholastic achievement, leadership, campus and community involvement, and overall enthusiasm for UAB.

The winners will each receive a $2,500 scholarship and serve as representatives of UAB in the coming year. The first alternates will each receive a $1,000 scholarship. Finalists are selected through two rounds of interviews and a student vote, which is held during Homecoming Week.

Chancellor, 20, is a junior majoring in neuroscience. He is a teaching assistant for the University Honors Program, is a vice president for Tau Kappa Epsilon and is on the Student Alumni Society Leadership Committee. Chancellor also is a 2014 Goin’ Green orientation leader. He volunteers as a Spanish translator for Cahaba Valley Health Care and is an ACT mentor with the Birmingham Education Foundation. He is the son of Scott and Regina Chancellor.

The winners will each receive a $2,500 scholarship and serve as representatives of UAB in the coming year. The first alternates will each receive a $1,000 scholarship. Finalists are selected through two rounds of interviews and a student vote, which is held during Homecoming Week.

Mosley, 20, is a junior majoring in public health. She is a member of the University Honors Program and a recipient of the License to Learn Scholarship. Director of marketing and public relations for the Student Activities Council, Mosley is also the vice president of communications for the Undergraduate Student Government Association and a member of the Student Alumni Society Leadership Committee. She volunteers with Into the Streets and Walk Now for Autism Speaks. She is the daughter of Tod and Dawn Mosley.

Gissendaner, 20, is a junior majoring in health care management. He is a member of the Global and Community Leadership Honors Program. A resident assistant, Gissendaner is also the chapter president for Alpha Tau Omega and an intern with UAB Digital Media. He volunteers as Read-a-thon coordinator for Desert Island Supply Company and at Gentiva Hospice. He is the son of Jim and Tracy Gissendaner.

Sullivan, 20, is a junior majoring in public health with a concentration in global health studies. She was named Outstanding Student Leader in 2014 and is a recipient of the Alliance Scholarship. A resident assistant, Sullivan is an orientation leader coordinator and is a teacher’s assistant for the University Honors Program. She volunteers with the Humane Society and 1917 Clinic. She is the daughter of Mary Sullivan.

Since July, the Department of Art and Art History has collaborated with participants across the UAB campus and throughout Birmingham in making prayer flags. DAAH faculty led Woodlawn High School students in making flags during the Woodlawn Summer Bridge Program, and the UAB departments of Anthropology, Biology, Government, Sociology and Philosophy, as well as the School of Public Health, have contributed to the project. Assistant Professor of Art Doug Baulos led prayer flag workshops across campus, including with the Alpha Gamma Delta sorority, UAB Art Club and the UAB Honors College, and UAB art students enrolled in painting, drawing, design, photography and art classes have made hundreds of flags throughout the semester.

“Traditionally, prayer flags are used to promote peace, compassion, strength and wisdom. The flags do not carry prayers to gods, which is a common misconception; rather, the Tibetans believe the prayers and mantras will be blown by the wind to spread the good will and compassion into all pervading space. Therefore, prayer flags are thought to bring benefit to all.”

“The project has a positive impact on our students’ academic learning by seeking to achieve real objectives for the community and deeper understanding of professional skills, including working in team environments,” said DAAH Chair Lauren Lake. “Their experience enhances understanding, which leads to more effective action.”

While traditional Tibetan Buddhist motifs are featured on many flags, others include personal messages, commemorations, quotes, or other ecumenical and/or nonreligious messages. Students have been encouraged to express themselves, their hopes, their dreams and other positive ideas onto the flags.

“Traditionally, prayer flags are used to promote peace, compassion, strength and wisdom,” Bloomston said. “The flags do not carry prayers to gods, which is a common misconception; rather, the Tibetans believe the prayers and mantras will be blown by the wind to spread the good will and compassion into all pervading space. Therefore, prayer flags are thought to bring benefit to all.”

Prayer flags positively change the environment in which they are placed, and the same should be said of art, says Jared Ragland, DAAH visual media and outreach coordinator.

“Our goal has been to create a project that celebrates the Dalai Lama’s visit and provides an opportunity for creative expression and interdisciplinary collaboration across UAB and around the city of Birmingham,” Ragland said. “This installation will, like the recent ‘Magic Chromacity’ project, highlight UAB’s Cultural Corridor through the presentation of a public artwork that explores multicultural identities and vernacular sources in a contemporary art context.”

To keep up with the project and see photographs, visit the Department of Art and Art History on Facebook. Use and follow #UABWhisperAway on social media for all project updates. For more information, contact Ragland at raglandj@uab.edu.

Sponsored by the UAB National Alumni Society, this tradition recognizes outstanding male and female students who have demonstrated scholastic achievement, leadership, involvement and overall enthusiasm.

2013 winners, Zach Hughes and Deidra AtkinsonThe top 10 finalists for one of the University of Alabama at Birmingham’s oldest Homecoming traditions have been selected, and the winners of the 33rd annual Mr. and Ms. UAB Scholarship Competition will be announced at UAB’s Homecoming game Saturday, Oct. 11, at Legion Field.

Sponsored by the UAB National Alumni Society, this tradition recognizes outstanding male and female students on campus who have demonstrated scholastic achievement, leadership, campus and community involvement, and overall enthusiasm for UAB.

The winners of the Mr. and Ms. UAB competition will each receive a $2,500 scholarship and serve as representatives of UAB in the coming year. The first alternates will each receive a $1,000 scholarship. Finalists are selected through two rounds of interviews and a student vote, which is held during Homecoming Week.

2014 Ms. UAB finalists:

Candy Mosley, 20, is a junior from Foley, Alabama, majoring in public health. She is a member of the University Honors Program and a recipient of the License to Learn Scholarship. Director of marketing and public relations for the Student Activities Council, Mosley is also the vice president of communications for the University Student Government Association and a member of the Student Alumni Society Leadership Committee. She volunteers with Into the Streets and Walk Now for Autism Speaks. She is the daughter of Ted and Dawn Mosley.

Lauren Osburn, 20, is a junior from Navarre, Florida, majoring in neuroscience with a minor in chemistry. She is a Blazer Elite Scholarship recipient and a secondary author on a neurobiology paper presented at the Society for Research on Biological Rhythms. An orientation leader, Osburn is also a member of the University Honors Program and an undergraduate research assistant. She volunteers at VCA Becker Animal Hospital and the Humane Society. She is the daughter of John and Debbie Osburn.

Nicole Rodriguez, 20, is a junior from Prattville, Alabama. She majors in international studies and is pre-law. She won first place in the Bachelor’s Category at the annual School of Public Health Research Day and was awarded the Global and Community Leadership Honors Program Scholarship. A UAB ambassador, Rodriguez is also a UAB international mentor and the attorney general of the USGA. She is the director of production for Relay for Life and vice president of the UAB Chapter of the Alabama Alliance for Healthy Youth. She is the daughter of Dr. Oscar and Rosemary Rodriguez.

Weslie Shannon, 20, is a junior from Murfreesboro, Tennessee, majoring in political science and international studies. She is a member of the University Honors Program and a recipient of the Golden Excellence Scholarship. Shannon is the vice president of finance for the USGA as well as recruitment for the PanHellenic Executive Board. She is a mentor at Arrington Middle School and volunteers with Oxfam America. She is the daughter of Wesley and Kim Shannon.

Asia Sullivan, 20, is a junior from Castleberry, Alabama, majoring in public health with a concentration in global health studies. She was named Outstanding Student Leader in 2014 and is a recipient of the Alliance Scholarship. A resident assistant, Sullivan is an orientation leader coordinator and is a teacher’s assistant for the University Honors Program. She volunteers with the Humane Society and 1917 Clinic. She is the daughter of Mary Sullivan.

2014 Mr. UAB Finalists:

Thomas J. Bailey II, 20, is a junior from Dothan, Alabama. He majors in biomedical engineering and is pre-med. He is a Gates Millennium Scholar and a Boys and Girls Club Youth of the Year Scholar. Bailey is vice president of the Iota Nu Chapter of Alpha Phi Alpha and is a member of both the University Honors Program and Biomedical Engineering Honors Program. He volunteers with the March of Dimes and the Birmingham Division of Youth Services. He is the son of Thomas and Jennifer Bailey.

Ben Burgess, 20, is a junior from Trussville, Alabama, majoring in biomedical sciences. He is a Jack Parker Scholarship winner, is in the Science and Technology Honors Program, and recipient of the Lambda Chi Alpha Scholastic Achievement Award. A trumpet player in the Marching Blazers, Burgess is also a resident assistant and member of Lambda Chi Alpha. He volunteers at Amedysis Hospice Care and North American Food Drive. He is the son of Ben and Janet Burgess.

John Wesley Chancellor, 20, is a junior from Enterprise, Alabama, majoring in neuroscience. He is a teaching assistant for the University Honors Program, is a vice president for Tau Kappa Epsilon and is on the Student Alumni Society Leadership Committee. Chancellor also is a 2014 Goin’ Green Orientation Leader. He volunteers as a Spanish translator for Cahaba Valley Health Care and is an ACT mentor with the Birmingham Education Foundation. He is the son of Scott and Regina Chancellor.

Ethan Gissendaner, 20, is a junior from Eufaula, Alabama, majoring in health care management. He is a member of the Global and Community Leadership Honors Program. A resident assistant, Gissendaner is also the chapter president for Alpha Tau Omega and an intern with UAB Digital Media. He volunteers as Read-a-thon coordinator for Desert Island Supply Company and at Gentiva Hospice. He is the son of Jim and Tracy Gissendaner.

Chirag Patel, 19, is a sophomore from Enterprise, Alabama, majoring in chemistry. He is a recipient of the Golden Excellence Scholarship. A UAB TrailBlazer, Patel is the director of Spirit and Traditions, is a member of Pi Kappa Phi, is in the Experiential Learning Scholars Program, and volunteers with Desert Island Supply Company. He is the son of Yogesh and Bharti Patel.

Students arrived early to campus last week for an Honors Freshman Retreat to explore the city of Birmingham, complete community service projects, and get to know themselves and one another better, says inaugural Honors College Dean Shannon Blanton, Ph.D. This is her first class of UAB honors students.

“These students are very impressive,” Blanton said. “Their average GPA is 4.1 and average ACT is 30. Better yet, they’re poised to make an impact all over campus. Our freshmen have declared 62 majors in all seven undergraduate schools and colleges.”

Of the incoming 375 freshmen, 18 percent are first-generation college students and 22 percent are from out of state. The class also includes 10 scholar-athletes who will play for UAB’s soccer, men’s tennis, softball, baseball, volleyball and women’s cross country teams.

The freshmen attended a Birmingham Barons baseball game at Regions Field on their first night in town. In keeping with the retreat theme of “Welcome to the Magic City,” the students used BACHE Cultural Passports to embark on a half-day of exploration. They participated in service projects with community partners including Glen Iris Elementary School, Greater Birmingham Habitat for Humanity, Peer Inc., and Children’s of Alabama.

With more than 1,100 students, the UAB Honors College offers small class sizes, intensive academic advising and endless opportunities for academic enrichment. Honors College students pursue majors in all undergraduate divisions, hold leadership positions across campus, and volunteer and serve in the Birmingham community and around the world.

At the retreat’s closing ceremony, Blanton challenged students to take full advantage of the experiential learning opportunities available to them within the university, such as undergraduate research, service learning, study away and internships. She urged students to reach their full academic potential through continuous hard work and determination. Associate Professor of Chemistry Joe March, Ph.D., issued a similar charge: He encouraged students to meet their faculty, try to understand how each discipline offers a new perspective, foster their love of learning, dream while awake and make time to reflect on their own ways of thinking.

Honors sophomore Ben McCafferty shared words of wisdom with the new students. He spoke of the intimacy of the UAB Honors College community as a place where he encountered other academically ambitious students who have become some of his closest friends.

“I would tell you I found a group of like-minded individuals, but that would be a lie,” McCafferty said. “I found a diversity in thought, body, religion, color and culture that is refreshing because everyone truly brings a completely different perspective to the table.”

This emphasis on community among diverse, highly motivated students is a hallmark of the Honors College.

“We are very excited to welcome our students to campus for the new academic year,” said Blanton. “We anticipate a challenging and engaging year, featuring an array of enriching activities to complement the classroom experience.”

With more than 1,100 students, the UAB Honors College offers small class sizes, intensive academic advising and endless opportunities for academic enrichment. Honors College students pursue majors in all undergraduate divisions, hold leadership positions across campus, and volunteer and serve in the Birmingham community and around the world. Keep up with the UAB Honors College via Facebook and on Twitter and Instagram @honorsuab.

Ophelia Johnson The 2014 Goldwater Scholars from UAB are Bliss Chang, a junior with a double-major in biochemistry and biology, and Ophelia Johnson, a junior majoring in biomedical engineering. Luke McClintock, a sophomore chemistry major, received an honorable mention.

Chang and Johnson were selected from a pool of more than 1,100 student applicants. UAB’s two scholars are among just 283 students who received the award nationwide. The scholars were selected based on their academic achievements outlined in the nominations submitted by faculty members. To date, UAB has had 19 Goldwater Scholars.

The Goldwater scholarship program began in 1989 with the purpose of encouraging outstanding students to pursue careers in engineering, mathematics and the natural sciences. The foundation grants each recipient a scholarship for the 2014-2015 academic year that covers the cost of tuition, fees, books, and room and board up to a maximum of $7,500 per year.

Luke MahanHometown: Birmingham, Ala. Plans: To pursue an advanced degree in medicine Graduation: Spring 2015 Research: Isolating the biological and behavioral factors responsible for disparities in the response to a cardiac rehabilitation program in African-American women with heart disease

Ryder, a University Honors Program scholar who is majoring in biology and anthropology, will study in Wonju, South Korea. The 20-year-old is from Huntsville and plans to spend a couple of years researching and doing humanitarian work abroad, then pursue her dream of becoming a doctor.

The Mr. and Ms. UAB Scholarship Competition, sponsored by the UAB National Alumni Society, awards two outstanding students $2,500 scholarships.

Zachary Hughes of White House, Tenn., and Deidra Atkinson of Bay Minette, Ala., were named Mr. and Ms. UAB 2013 at the University of Alabama at BirminghamHomecoming game Saturday, Nov. 2, at Legion Field. Each winner received a $2,500 scholarship and will represent UAB, the UAB National Alumni Society and the UAB Student Alumni Society at events throughout the year and serve as spokespeople. First alternates Andrew Eubanks and Sarah Terry received $1,000 scholarships.

The Mr. and Ms. UAB Scholarship Competition is sponsored by the UAB National Alumni Society. The 32-year-old program recognizes outstanding students who have demonstrated scholastic achievement, campus and community involvement, leadership, and overall enthusiasm for UAB. The finalists were selected through two rounds of interviews and a student vote, which was held during Homecoming week.

Atkinson is a senior majoring in biomedical engineering with minors in both mathematics and chemistry. She is a member of the Science and Technology Honors Program, the Biomedical Engineering Society, and the National Society of Black Engineers. Atkinson is also a Wells Fargo Scholar and a volunteer with Students for a Healthier Community. She is the daughter of Vincent and Edith Atkinson.

Hughes is a junior majoring in chemistry. He received the Apollo Award for most well-rounded member from Tau Kappa Epsilon fraternity and is a recipient of the Blazer Elite Scholarship, a UAB orientation leader, a member of the Experiential Learning Scholars Program and a volunteer at the Exceptional Foundation. He is the son of Rick and Mochelle Hughes. First alternate Eubanks is a senior from Atlanta, Ga., majoring in nursing with a minor in Spanish. He is a UAB Emerging Leaders Scholarship recipient, is an Aaron Lamar Jr. Scholarship recipient and was a UAB cheerleader from 2010 to 2012. He is chaplain of the UAB Ambassador Program and a volunteer translator for UAB Students for a Healthier Community. He is the son of James and Lynne Eubanks.

First alternate Terry is a junior from Johns Creek, Ga., majoring in neuroscience with minors in chemistry and psychology. She has been named to the President’s List, received the Excellence in Organic Chemistry Award for 2012-13 and is a volunteer with the Exceptional Foundation. Terry is a member of the Science and Technology Honors Program and Alpha Omicron Pi. She is the daughter of Mark and Diane Terry.

Kasman, daughter of UAB Professor of Piano Yakov Kasman, will attend UAB this fall and has already collected many honors as a performer.

Hugo Kitano of California, Aleksandra Kasman of Alabama, Eric Lu of MassachusettsIncoming UAB Honors Program freshman Aleksandra Kasman, 18, won second prize and the Young Jury Award on June 14, 2013, in Columbia, S.C., at the Arthur Fraser International Piano Competition; the competition is a part of the Southeastern Piano Festival and one of the most prestigious competitions for young pianists.

Kasman, who will study piano at UAB, is the daughter of UAB Professor of Piano Yakov Kasman, D.M.A., and Tatiana Kasman, instructor of Piano Ensemble at UAB.

“I especially liked the fact that she was not only awarded by a professional jury, but she also won the vote of the young jury of five students from some of the nation’s top schools,” Yakov Kasman said.

Aleksandra won $1,500 for her second place win and $300 for her Young Jury Award. This year, 20 pianists representing 15 states were selected for the competition. Kasman said the competition level was extremely high this year.

Known to her family as Sasha, Aleksandra has garnered many competition honors as a performer. She has won medals or been named a finalist in the International Competition in Memory of Vladimir Horowitz in Kiev, Ukraine, the Blount-Slawson Young Artist Competition and the Alabama Symphony Volunteer Council's Lois Pickard Competition. She has performed solo recitals in the United States, France, Ukraine, Russia and Japan, as well as duo-pianist recitals with her father in Alabama, Colorado, Louisiana and Russia.

This new program, housed in the UAB School of Health Professions, leverages the strengths and expertise from faculty across campus to emphasize the study of life processes in the context of human health and disease risk, diagnosis, management and treatment.

This unique curriculum is human-based and clinically focused, and it will prepare students for health-related graduate and professional programs or for entry into one of the fastest growing occupational sectors. The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics estimates healthcare practitioners and technical occupations, combined with healthcare support occupations, will add approximately 3.4 million jobs from 2010 to 2020.

“The UAB campus has a deep-rooted history in health and medical education, so we are proud to offer a valuable addition to meet the tremendous increase in the number of students interested in healthcare careers,” said Bradley Newcomer, Ph.D., inaugural director of the biomedical sciences undergraduate program. “The program will also capitalize on the existing course work and expert faculty from the College of Arts and Sciences to provide students a broad academic foundation.”

Newcomer, who has more than 14 years of experience as a faculty member at UAB, earned his doctoral degree in biomedical sciences from Wright State University. Previously, he was the founding director of UAB’s Experiential Learning Scholars Program (ELSP). In four years, he grew it into the largest signature program within the UAB Honors College. He is a past director of the Global and Community Leadership (GCL) Honors Program. Most recently, Newcomer led the transition of the UAB Honors Academy into the UAB Honors College, overseeing a 39 percent enrollment increase in the Honors College during his two-year tenure.

“He was successful developing and leading two university-wide undergraduate honors programs at UAB for the past several years,” said UAB School of Health Professions Dean Harold Jones, Ph.D. “There is nobody who understands the needs of exceptional undergraduates better than Brad; we are all excited to see him build the biomedical sciences program into a signature program.”

The first two years of the program consist of core liberal arts studies including English, biology, calculus and history. The final two years cover areas such as biochemistry, physiology and pathologic diseases; it also includes six elective courses the students will choose based on their desired career track.

“The most exciting thing about this new degree option is that it prepares students for entry into health-related graduate and professional programs by allowing students to tailor their academic curriculum to fit their future academic and career goals,” said Janelle Chiasera, Ph.D., chair of the Department of Clinical and Diagnostic Sciences. “By allowing this curriculum tailoring, students will be able to prepare themselves earlier in their academic careers which, we hope, will allow them to more seamlessly and quickly reach their ultimate academic and/or career goals.”

The biomedical sciences undergraduate program is available for freshman and rising sophomores beginning with the fall 2013 semester. For more information, visit www.uab.edu/shp/cds/biomedical-sciences.

“I congratulate Ameen and Miranda, as well as the programs and people that nurtured their development,” said UAB President Ray L. Watts. “It is a testament to the outstanding quality of our students, faculty and staff that UAB has produced 13 Goldwater Scholars and five honorable mentions in the past six years. We are extremely proud of their successes.”

“I want to be the physical bridge between the realms of drug discovery and rehabilitation innovation,” said Barghi. “If I could create a therapy or a drug that would be inexpensive and work quickly, then that would be the ultimate success.”

Miranda Collier

Barghi wants to be an M.D./Ph.D., doing university-level research at UAB. His passion for medicine and UAB began as a sophomore in high school when he signed up for the Teenaged Volunteer (TAV) Program at UAB Hospital, and he was assigned to the Center for Psychiatric Medicine. The neuroimages and research in the lab fascinated him, and he wanted more.

He chose rehabilitation medicine because it is one of the few areas that offers positive long-term impacts, which Barghi sees firsthand.

“I once met a veteran U.S. Army Ranger who was missing an arm,” said Barghi. “This huge, tough guy would tear up when his son walked into the lab because he could not interact using his prosthetic arm. Three weeks of therapy, and he was able to hug his wife and pick up his son like it was natural. These are the type of tangible results we get daily.”

“I thought to myself, in 10 years do I want to be prescribing medicine to patients, or do I want to design the medicines that should be prescribed to them,” said Collier.

Collier describes her time in Oxford as a defining experience in her life. Under Benesch’s guidance, she used mass spectrometry, a method of displaying the singular spectrum of the masses of molecules in a protein, to research the structure and behavior of a particular protein complex.

The idea of looking at a complex organism as a whole is also how Collier, a member of the University Honors Program, sees UAB. She is a teaching assistant, co-editor of Inquiro, UAB’s undergraduate science research journal, and she has recently been working with another student to reinstitute the Undergraduate Research Organization to encourage collaboration among student researchers. She wants students, especially freshmen, to know what opportunities are available to them.

“If you just go through school only worrying about yourself, then what’s the point?” she said.

Collier is grateful to UAB faculty for their willingness to help undergraduate researchers.

“I’ve asked professors in chemistry, biology, vision sciences, pharmacology and nutrition sciences if I can work with them or use equipment in their labs, and they have all helped me,” said Collier. “I have learned so much from them.”

UAB has had four Goldwater scholar winners in the last two years. Barghi and Collier are the 16th and 17th UAB students to win, and they are two of only four students in Alabama to win the award for 2013. The magnitude of the award is not lost on Barghi or Collier.

“This award is not necessarily about what you have done, but about your potential and what you can do for the future of science,” said Collier. “I now feel a compulsion, because I have this award to my name, to do it justice. It is gratifying and humbling.”

“You can’t function in a society if you don’t know anything about their environment – it is not something you can pretend to know,” said Berkebile, a biology and international studies double major. “Doctors need to be able to understand people’s needs both medically and culturally to provide the best care possible.”

Berkebile has been interested in different cultures for as long as she can remember, and she has been thrilled with UAB’s student diversity. After only one year of studying Arabic as her foreign language, she is designing an Arabic studies minor.

“After spending so much time with people from the Middle East, it hurts me to see how they are portrayed in multimedia and misperceived by the West,” said Berkebile. “Ignorance is directly related to prejudice, and the key to defeating both is education. I want to be a liaison who can help educate people on both sides.”

“Doctors need to be able to understand people’s needs both medically and culturally to provide the best care possible.”

Nobody in Berkebile’s family has ever travelled outside of the United States, but the 19-year-old has no trepidation. She has researched the school, the city and past Clinton Scholars like UAB’s Jacob Ledbetter, who studied in Dubai in 2012. He told her the best experiences come outside of the academic setting.

“We discussed many different ways to take advantage of a rare opportunity to live and learn in the Middle East, so I plan to shadow doctors and volunteer at hospitals,” said Berkebile. “I need to immerse myself in their world and learn Arabic medical terminology, and that is what I intend to do while I am in Dubai.”

Berkebile plans to go to medical school via the Army Health Professions Scholarship Program. The U.S. Army will pay for her medical school and provide a $2,000 stipend each month. In exchange for her education, Berkebile will serve in the Army for four years upon graduation. She says she will request tours of duty in the Middle East.

Berkebile leaves for Dubai on May 8, 2013.

]]>Student ExperienceMon, 08 Apr 2013 15:19:20 -0500Loss of father does not mean loss of family for UAB seniorhttps://www.uab.edu/news/student-experience/item/2988-loss-of-father-does-not-mean-loss-of-family-for-uab-senior
https://www.uab.edu/news/student-experience/item/2988-loss-of-father-does-not-mean-loss-of-family-for-uab-senior

UAB athlete came to Birmingham to get closer to dad and brother; but when dad died, the graduating senior found strength and family here on campus

University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB) senior Taylor Klein left his mother and Lexington, Ky., home in 2008 at the age of 17 to be close to his father and brother in Birmingham. Within two years, his dad was diagnosed with colon cancer; and four months later was gone.

In spite of that loss, Klein stayed in Birmingham and will receive his bachelor’s degree in accounting from the UAB Collat School of Business on Saturday, Dec. 15, 2012. In four years at UAB, Klein found more than an education. He found new family that pushed him through a tough time and toward a bright future.

He does not regret his decision to uproot.

“I was distraught when my dad died, but coming to UAB was exactly what I should’ve done,” Klein said.

Klein, who recently received All-Conference USA honorable mention honors, walked-on to the UAB football team as a long snapper without any formal training. The quick learner made his first start as a redshirt freshman and never gave up the position. He ended his football career tied with former teammate Jake Seitz for the most consecutive starts in UAB history with 48.

Stephen A. Yoder, J.D., an assistant professor and Honors Program director in the Collat School of Business, taught Klein in five courses; most recently in Business Law for Accountants.

“In Taylor’s business law class, I assess students on their ability to apply a myriad of possible rules to specific fact situations and to provide a quick answer,” Yoder said. “In the final exam, Taylor earned a perfect score. In addition to his fine technical skills, I predict that Taylor will be an excellent team player – a skill he learned in no small part from his years on football teams.”

The consummate team player, Klein gives his instructors credit for his success.

“The professors at the Collat School of Business actually invest in their students, which makes it easier to do well and be engaged in the class,” said Klein. “You know they are interested in how you are doing.”

Klein did not just find support from his UAB football and academic family.

In 2008, he met Nicole Peters, then a midfielder for the UAB women’s soccer team, at the UAB Campus Diner. He says she has been his biggest fan throughout the past three seasons. Peters and her family, who hail from Grayson, Ga., and have attended most every UAB football game to watch Klein, have helped him stay strong since the loss of his father.

The two will be married on June 22, 2013, in Atlanta.

With a bright future ahead, Klein prefers to look forward, not back. He has a job lined up after graduation with one of the Big Four accounting firms. Once he earns his Certified Public Accountant (CPA) title he will be an external auditor for PricewaterhouseCoopers in Birmingham. He is also on the Fast-Track Masters in Accounting Program. He has already passed four of the 10 graduate classes required to earn a master’s in accounting, which he will attain in 2013.

Stuart is a UAB Experiential Learning Scholars Program honor student, an Alpha Lambda Delta member, a Children’s Hospital dental clinic aide, a General Chemistry Excellence Award recipient, a former chemistry supplemental instructor and an editorial board member of UAB’s undergraduate research journal,Inquiro. CEA is one of many third-party international programs that work through the UAB Office of Study Away to provide students with educational opportunities overseas.

The Beckman award, which provides scholarships for the advancement of education, research training and personal development of students in chemistry, biochemistry and the biological and medical sciences, is the first for UAB.

“This award recognizes the stellar quality of undergraduate research and faculty mentoring taking place across the UAB campus,” says Michael Sloane, Ph.D., director of the University Honors Program and the principal investigator on UAB’s successful application.

“The receipt of the prestigious Beckman Scholars Program is a tremendous accomplishment for our institution and a well-deserved recognition of the quality of undergraduate research and the willingness of national recognized faculty to invest time and energy into mentoring undergraduates,” Sloane says.

Arnold O. Beckman, founder and chair emeritus of Beckman Instruments Inc., represents nearly a century of outstanding scientific achievements. Considered one of the top five inventors of scientific instruments, Beckman created devices that revolutionized the study and understanding of human biology, ultimately saving countless lives around the world.

In 1997, the Arnold and Mabel Beckman Foundation established the Beckman Scholars Program for accredited U.S. universities and four-year colleges.

The award is a highly competitive three-year grant for undergraduate research that will allow six top-ranking undergraduates to do research mentored by top researchers. The UAB departments of Biology, Biomedical Engineering and Chemistry were selected as the three academic units for the grant. Fifteen faculty will serve as potential mentors.

“UAB is thrilled to have our 11th Teach for America corps member in just the past four years,” said UAB President Carol Garrison. “We are proud of Ebony, her accomplishments on campus and her commitment to serving the community, and we wish her well as she goes on to teach and inspire young minds in Miami.”

Hinton, who will graduate UAB in May with a degree in psychology, is passionate about educational equality because of her personal history. Her parents moved often while she was a child; she says lived in both prosperous and economically challenged neighborhoods and was educated in inner-city and suburban schools. Her experience with distinct gaps in the two environments is the reason she applied to Teach for America.

“I want to motivate my students to become invested in their academic and educational attainment and to want more for their futures,” says Hinton. “I would love to help the students improve their reading skills because it is a deficit I have seen firsthand, and it is something so necessary to succeed in life.”

Teach for America, according to its website, promotes the idea that every child deserves access to a great education. The program recruits and trains leaders who commit two years to teaching in low-income communities. Hinton learned about its work from a fellow student in the University Honors Program. All but one of the previous Teach for America honorees were students of the prestigious UAB program, and its director knows a top candidate when he sees one.

“Ebony is driven, selfless and a great inspiration to others so she is an excellent choice to serve as a tutor and role model for secondary school-age students,” said Michael Sloane, Ph.D., University Honors Program director. “She understands the importance of education and her passion to share this is evidenced by her role in the Reach Initiative here in the Spencer Honors House; she volunteers her Saturdays to tutor inner-city high-school students preparing for the ACT.”

Hinton has been assigned to teach English to high-school students. She expects to learn just as much from her students as she expects them to learn from her. She has been studying the psychology of school-connectedness under Sylvie Mrug, Ph.D., in the UAB Youth Development Lab in the Department of Psychology. Hinton wants to walk away from her Teach for America commitment with the experience and knowledge to institute real change in the lives of children everywhere.

“I have researched teacher-student fit and the characteristics in students and teachers that help to build the glue that strengthens the bond between the two and improves students academically and socially,” says Hinton. “Now I will see firsthand which factors play into a child’s feeling of belonging in their school and the effects that belongingness has on the child’s academic outcomes. Teach for America has given me an opportunity to use the knowledge I’ve gathered through research to help my future students.”